Day 13 - Come and Rest

Well, good morning.

Hopefully your week is off to a great start, and I'm excited about this Tuesday morning and the scripture that we're looking at today.

Again, we're looking at Matthew Chapter eleven, and we would encourage you to read that on your own time.

But this morning we're specifically looking at Matthew Chapter eleven, verses twenty-eight through thirty, which say this.

Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and my burden I give you is light.

Earlier in Matthew, Jesus addressed his message to multiple groups of people.

Here in Matthew eleven, verses twenty-eight through thirty, Jesus gives a personal invitation to anyone who will receive it.

Come, take my yoke and rest.

Are you weary or overburdened?

This burden refers to the weight of our sin or our spiritual anxiety.

My guilt overwhelms me.

It is a burden too heavy to bear, Psalm 38.

This is a load we can't carry.

Sometimes it may feel like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, like the mythological character Atlas.

Although this fictional character was only said to hold up the sky, Jesus did actually carry the weight of the world's sin to the cross.

Think of your best vacation and all the work needed to make it happen.

Shopping prices and finding a place to go, researching restaurants and things to do, packing for yourselves and all you need for the kids, getting someone to watch your house and your dog, and the list goes on.

By the time you get to your vacation spot, you need an extra week.

Usually, after you get home with the unpacking laundry, mowing the overgrown lawn, etc., you need another vacation.

Most of us have a few vacation nightmares we can share.

Flat tires, relatives who heard you were in the area and crashed your party, the kids who got sick or injured, you lost your wallet or passport, and the time of rest was a disaster.

Even our best vacations are usually a lot of work, and we don't always get the relaxation and the rest we so badly need.

Jesus offers to give us rest if we will take his yoke.

It almost sounds like a contradiction to take a yoke and get rest until we discover what Jesus means.

The rest Jesus offers is a refreshing spiritual rest.

We don't have to do any of the work.

We simply take or accept his yoke, and we do this by surrender and submission to his authority.

In Judaism, yoke was a common metaphor for the law as a means to salvation.

We know that no amount of keeping the law or being good will get us to heaven.

God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you can't take credit for this.

It is a gift from God.

Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Jesus was and is offering a yoke of grace and not of works.

The interesting thing about a yoke is that it is meant for two.

Jesus does not intend for us to do life alone.

He wants to carry the load with us.

In the busyness and stress of life, it's easy to find ourselves weary and exhausted, trying to do more, be more, and get more.

We need rest for our souls.

This is what Jesus offers to all who will come to him and surrender to his yoke.

And so our action this morning is to take a few minutes and recall, hopefully with laughter, your worst and most disastrous vacations.

Aren't you tired just thinking about it?

When and where can you go to be refreshed?

Make a plan and write it on your calendar to regularly rest and be refreshed in Jesus.

As Dallas Willard said, arrange your days so that you experience total contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God.

And so, Father, this morning we pray, you know my weariness and my worries.

Help me to put my trust in you and find your rest.

Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out in me anything that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Again, I love Matthew chapter 11 and the invitation that Jesus offers to us.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Take some time to consider the offer that Jesus is making and just meditate on that as you go throughout the rest of your day.

And we can't wait to see you back tomorrow morning as we look at Matthew chapter twelve.